# Driving business efficiencies with a dedicated credit management approach
Author:  Pal Sinha, Barnali 
Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali
Published: 2018-03-13
Category: BUSINESS
Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/business
Meta Title: Why Businesses Should Ditch Spreadsheets for Credit
Meta Description: Discover why relying on spreadsheets for credit management may be hindering your business's growth and how specialised software can help drive efficiency
URL: https://financedigest.com/driving-business-efficiencies-with-a-dedicated-credit-management-approachhtml

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by **Martin de Heus**, VP of Direct Sales at [Onguard](https://www.onguard.com/)

In the worlds of accounting and credit management, many businesses still look to retain largely manual approaches or persist in using generalised software packages that are not specifically dedicated to the job in hand. Unfortunately, by doing this, they will almost inevitably be putting themselves at a serious disadvantage – especially in terms of collecting information about the credit management environment in which they are operating and in making that intelligence available to key decision-makers within the organisation to drive the business strategy moving forwards.

![Martin de Heus](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/martin-de-heus-1736842927428-compressed.jpg)

Martin de Heus

After all, in these key areas of a business, in particular, scheduling tasks, tracking orders, organising and sharing data and managing workloads are all vital to [long-term success](https://www.financedigest.com/the-journey-to-cloud-native-overcoming-hurdles-to-drive-modernisation-and-achieve-long-term-success.html "The journey to cloud-native: overcoming hurdles to drive modernisation and achieve long-term success") and growth.

The kind of [software used to manage](https://www.financedigest.com/calibration-management-software-market-to-witness-exponential-growth-by-2030-end-tmr-study.html "Calibration Management Software Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2030 End | TMR Study") these processes, and store the data generated by them, can help define how efficient and effective a business’s credit management function is. Currently, it’s often carried out using spreadsheets alone but typically such an approach is [holding buinesses back](https://www.financedigest.com/is-your-technology-provider-holding-you-back.html "Is your technology provider holding you back?")

**Over-reliance on spreadsheets**

Sometimes the use of basic standard software is largely a legacy of the past. Basic computer programs were used to get the business up and running and they are often being pushed to their limits by [growing](https://www.financedigest.com/should-you-take-out-a-personal-loan-to-start-or-grow-your-business.html "Should You Take Out a Personal Loan to Start or Grow Your Business?") businesses today.

Excel spreadsheets, for example, are often used for a host of working processes that they were not specifically intended for. It’s certainly not the case that the software is intrinsically bad – far from it. Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet program that [enable users to do a lot with raw data](https://www.financedigest.com/seenthis-launches-emissions-dashboard-to-enable-advertisers-to-analyse-data-reduction-and-emission-savings-on-campaigns.html "SeenThis launches Emissions Dashboard to enable advertisers to analyse data reduction and emission savings on campaigns"). The issue with Excel is that it is often the wrong tool for the job that [credit managers](https://www.financedigest.com/enhancing-credit-exposure-management-through-graph-analytics.html "Enhancing Credit Exposure Management Through Graph Analytics") are trying to do.

After all, spreadsheets are ultimately designed for number crunching, not for storing large volumes of data about customers; their contact details; [sales records; payment and history and outstanding balances](https://www.financedigest.com/britain-on-track-for-record-black-friday-sales.html "Britain on track for record Black Friday sales"). It’s a problem that tends to get worse as the organisation grows and the information it stores [continues to expand in line with that growth](https://www.financedigest.com/adverty-partners-with-livewire-to-continue-growth-of-in-game-advertising-across-asia-pacific.html "Adverty partners with Livewire to continue growth of in-game advertising across Asia Pacific").

Using Excel for tracking credit management when the [business is small](https://www.financedigest.com/the-small-businesss-guide-to-getting-started-in-digital-advertising.html "The Small Business’s Guide to Getting Started in Digital Advertising") is certainly convenient and it may even work reasonably well for a little while. Typically, however, it will not take long for the spreadsheet to become weighed down by complexity and this can lead to it becoming slow with [errors inevitably creeping into data](https://www.financedigest.com/amazons-twitch-hit-by-data-breach-due-to-configuration-error.html "Amazon’s Twitch hit by data breach due to configuration error") and functions.

**Growing Pains**

When businesses are in that expansion phase, spreadsheets can be a source of frustration and aggravation, often slowing the business down and contributing to mistakes as their capabilities are stretched almost to [breaking point](https://www.financedigest.com/gas-price-surge-pushes-europes-ceramics-industry-to-breaking-point.html "Gas price surge pushes Europe’s ceramics industry to breaking point"). Specialist software can help here [allowing credit managers to maintain control and ensure even tedious tasks are completed efficiently and to a high standard](https://www.financedigest.com/esg-innovation-allowing-everyone-to-meet-the-standard.html "ESG innovation: Allowing everyone to meet the standard").

Credit managers will be no strangers either to other [standard areas of frustration that impact](https://www.financedigest.com/eye-tracking-study-confirms-that-high-impact-formats-outperform-standard-display.html "Eye-tracking study confirms that high impact formats outperform standard display") spreadsheet-fixated businesses. Users feeling that they are having to do the same monotonous tasks repeatedly is generally a sure-fire sign that the [business needs dedicated software](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-choose-the-right-software-architecture-for-your-business.html "How to choose the right software architecture for your business"). From inputting data to carrying out credit reviews to managing [late payments](https://www.financedigest.com/why-late-payments-are-hurting-your-customer-as-well-as-your-business.html "Why late payments are hurting your customer, as well as your business"), specialist software can make workers faster at their job and bring broader business benefits too.

Another [key area is ease of access to information](https://www.financedigest.com/golf-apparel-market-key-players-and-production-information-analysis-with-forecast-2031.html "Golf Apparel Market: Key Players and Production Information Analysis with Forecast 2031"). [Business systems](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-use-a-pos-system-to-run-your-business.html "How To Use A POS System To Run Your Business?") are often overflowing with data. However, if users are not able to access that [data and process](https://www.financedigest.com/crowdsourcing-of-data-to-drive-the-high-throughput-process-development-market.html "Crowdsourcing of data to drive the High Throughput Process Development Market") it into useful information, then it is unlikely to helping the business to achieve its end goals.

Even with custom-designed Microsoft Excel sheets, it is typically a manual, time-consuming task to collect relevant data; keep up it to date and make sure it is easily accessible. As a result, the risk of incorrect information, inaccurate financials and [cash flow](https://www.financedigest.com/covestro-sees-lower-2023-profit-cash-flow-as-macro-challenges-prevail.html "Covestro sees lower 2023 profit, cash flow as macro challenges prevail") mismanagement is always high. And the consequences of these kind of errors can be severe in financial and reputational terms.

**Finding an Alternative Approach**

With the right dedicated credit [management software](https://www.financedigest.com/document-management-software-market-to-expand-at-a-value-cagr-of-12-3.html "Document Management Software Market to expand at a value CAGR of 12.3%"), however, organisations and their users can access that data and turn it into intelligence that can help the company survive and thrive. Chief financial officers can, for example, use the data to spot trends, examine growth and monitor progress while [credit](https://www.financedigest.com/how-to-raise-my-credit-score-40-points-fast.html "How to raise my credit score 40 points fast") managers can use it to create a credit scoring model and identify the largest customer credit applications, for example.

The big advantage of the best [quality specialist credit management](https://www.financedigest.com/healthcare-quality-management-market-is-expected-to-register-highest-cagr-of-12-during-the-forecast-period-2021-to-2031.html "Healthcare Quality Management Market Is Expected To Register Highest CAGR Of 12% During The Forecast Period 2021 to 2031") software is that unlike spreadsheets, it has been designed specifically with the credit professionals in mind. That means that it will typically integrate with relevant business systems that the customer has and provide a variety of tools for [streamlining workflow](https://www.financedigest.com/streamlining-workflows-in-a-decentralised-workforce.html "Streamlining Workflows in a Decentralised Workforce").

Moreover, it will automate many everyday tasks like data entry, processing payments and correspondence. Added to this, its specialist nature allows it to provide users with the information they need when they need it and makes it easy to share data [across business](https://www.financedigest.com/eliminating-financial-leaks-across-your-business.html "Eliminating financial leaks across your business") functions.

In short, this type of software allows credit management users to save time on repetitive tasks giving them the chance to focus on [customer service](https://www.financedigest.com/transforming-to-customer-centric-service-in-financial-services.html "Transforming to customer centric service in Financial Services") and building long-term-relationships. And that’s important. After all, to do a job well, you need the right tools for the job.


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